My pics

Thanks! :)

Awesome work man.

Can I ask what you are doing to achieve this? Is it just the camera? Exposure time? Or are you processing them afterwards?

Most of the stuff I do is minimally processed, my workflow normally looks like this;

Import to capture one
LCC (Lens cast calibration and dust removal)
Colour temperature
Minor curve adjustments
Rotational/horizon correction/crop
output

I may add/subtract saturation or alter the colour balance slightly,

Most of the way I work revolves around fieldcraft - that is, knowing the weather, the location and trying to predict what the light will do - if I can line those three things up then I'll usually come away with something decent, I usually scout out locations before shooting them. For example, in the above iceberg photographs - I know that the Icebergs are only present on the beach after low tide, combined with the clear sky and the sun setting on the opposite horizon - experience tells me the sky will go pink/purple. There were about 80 photographers on the other side of the lagoon waiting for a sunset that didn't happen, whereas I was alone on that beach with the icebergs for around an hour before they all came flocking over at 100mph to wreck everything :D but thankfully I'd filled a card by then!

In those circumstances, if you can line all the elements up together - any old camera will take amazing photographs, it's all about being in the right place at the right time.

From a technical perspective, the above iceberg shots were pretty simple, ISO 50, F11, 1 second exposure - waiting for each wash of the waves to try and align the chunks of ice in a way that looks nice, lots of fun - I also like to listen to music, Vangelis's bladerunner theme usually puts me in the correct mood for shooting such locations :p
 
Do you do professional work or is this purely a hobby? The travel costs must be huge!

Just a hobby, purely for myself -

And yeah it is expensive, but I see it as money well spent - it gets me all over the place and I feel I come away with things worth keeping and a sense of accomplishment (sometimes!) I don't have kids or any dependants, so I usually go places at the drop of a hat - the Iceland trip I booked with 3 days notice, it's pretty cool to just go somewhere at short notice.
 
Thanks for the kind comments guys,

Was bored last night, so went down to Studland near poole to Old Harry rocks, took my little 1-man tent and camped on the cliffs until about 4am, was a nice morning,

2 shot stitch, 10mm movement either side

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Thanks for the kind comments guys :)

New lens arrived today, managed to get one of the last remaining Schneider APO Digitar 72mm lenses, since they stopped making them, I sent it off to Cambo to be fitted into a WTS tilt/swing mount,

Had a play around with it earlier taking shots of the carpark, pretty impressive for sharpness - I almost went for the Rodenstock Digaron 70mm, but numerous people have mentioned that despite it having a slightly larger image circle it's not quite as sharp in the corners, I did a couple of shifts with the Schneider and it is indeed very sharp from corner to corner, with minimal cast, so I'm pretty happy... Currently debating whether I should get up at 0230-0300 to go and have a go at some morning Panoramics, or hold off until tomorrow night - might head into London to a couple of spots I've scouted out for some Panos, :)

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Went out for a quick hike around London after dinner, had a few ideas for some panoramics with my new lens, but the light was wrong, so ended up on tower bridge, nice evening - very busy as usual,

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Ahhh my old work domain. It's definitely never looked so glamorous :p :D

lol I can assure you it was far from glamorous last night :p

Exactly as I was taking this exposure, some old pensioner in a rover 75 ran into the back of some guy in a BMW, they all jumped out and almost lynched the guy, a whole crowd of people, police, total chaos on tower bridge :D
 
Went away to Scotland for 10 days last week, I quit my current job and they put me on gardening leave for my remaining 3 weeks, so I went to Skye, Isle of Lewis/Harris followed by the Ullapool area, the days were pretty bad for weather but mornings and evenings seemed to be pretty decent,

The Saltmarshes of Leverburgh - Isle of Harris;

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Luskentyre beach - Isle of Harris;

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Luskentyre beach 2 - Isle of Harris;

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Luskentyre beach 3 - Isle of Harris;

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Elgol - Isle of Skye;

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Old diatomite furnace - Isle of Skye;

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Sgurr an Fhidhleir - Wester ross

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Mellon Udrigle - Wester ross

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Mellon Udrigle 2 - Wester ross

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Mellon Charles - Wester ross

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Been busy working in Dublin for the last 6 weeks (new job and stuff) so haven't had a chance to do much, the few weekends I've had to myself have been accompanied by terrible weather, today was an exception though, so I went for a quick blast up there for a sunset... Bit too busy for my liking, bus tours and hundreds of people down there - thankfully it thinned out in the evening,

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Fantastic stuff dude! :)

Haven't ventured in this sub forum for a while but glad I did, remember seeing your OP earlier in the year. Great shots :)!

Thanks for the kind comments guys :)

The beauty and isolation stunningly captured. I also need to get back to Wester Ross.

Yeah - Wester Ross is amazing, the beaches of Harris are so good too, I started off on Skye - I've been going to Skye for many years, but the last 2 years has seen the biggest explosion of tourism I've ever seen, thousands of people at every landmark, it was terrible lol - i gave up after about 2 days.

I got to Harris and practically not a single person on Luskentyre beach, absolutely amazing to be honest,
 
Currently visiting the US engineering teams in Los Angeles, here for 6 weeks which is rather nice - landed on Friday night, naturally went straight to death valley with all my kit, went to "the race track" aka "The Playa" the place where the rocks move due to the pressure of wind and ice, they leave tracks in the lake bed, amazing place - totally surreal stood out there by myself,

Both shots moonlit - such an awesome place,

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Pretty tired! Went out for a road trip over the weekend, drove to Arizona, stopping off via Trona in California to photograph "Trona pinnacles" followed by White Pocket in Arizona - one of my favourite places, :)

Trona pinnacles;

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White Pocket 1;

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White Pocket 2;

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White Pocket 3;

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White Pocket 4;

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White pocket is notoriously difficult to get to, it's right out in the middle of the paria plateau where temperatures often reach 40 degrees, most of the roads are very deep sand - so it requires high clearance, real 4x4, air'ed down tyres, etc, unfortunately people still don't really read the advice and decide to "have a go" like this elderly couple did in their Porsche Cayenne,

I couldn't get them out in my Jeep (red one) took two other people with various ropes and techniques to get them out, (some navajo guy with a monster truck succeeded in the end) god knows what would have happened if it had been a week day with not many people around..

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Went out again this weekend, couldn't resist it :D

Went back to Death Valley - this time I stopped off for the night at the Eureka dunes - the tallest sand dunes in the US - 700ft high from the desert floor, jesus christ - I've climbed some tough mountains in my life, but this was very hard - with my camera pack trying to get up there was horrendous - on all fours trying to scramble up, the view at the top was worth it though!

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Next stop was Badwater Basin, 278 feet below sea level - the salt flats are amazing, you have to walk out a good few miles before the patterns start to emerge, it's pretty cool out there later when all the coach fodder has gone - just out there by myself with my trust keen kanteen full of water, watching satellites and shooting stars fly over


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Just arrived at Yosemite, here for 5 days - quite excited, long drive from Santa Monica,

Stopped off at Sequoia national park where I found this nice rock, it was screaming to be photographed

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You've a great eye for composition and light - another stunner.

Thanks guys! <3

Going back home back to the UK on Sunday, so had one final road trip - was with someone else so didn't get to dedicate as much time to photography, we went to Yosemite and also checked out Bodie state park - a real ghost town, and mono lake.

Yosemite was impressive, but I hated the valley - the views and scenery are breathtaking, but it's just one big freeway and traffic jam, people who can't drive blocking the place up with their SUVs, endless coaches and other BS - I thought it was really bad, we went to the Tuolumne meadows on the Tioga pass - which was much quieter, and very very nice,

If you're ever in the area I also highly suggest checking out Bodie - it's a large ghost town, highly authentic with most of the original stuff in place, not a silly tourist attraction like most of the others, it's the real deal as far as ghost towns go. We crammed a bit too much stuff in and actually wish we'd spent a lot more time at Bodie - it really is a bit of a hidden gem.

Mono lake is also very cool - but very hard to photograph, it was crawling with other photographers when I was there which usually screws me up a bit, most people tend to do a panoramic of the pinnacles, Kinda wish I'd scouted out a better spot - again, we crammed too much in :D

Yosemite Tuolumne meadows

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Bodie ghost town

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Mono lake

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Thanks man!

Back in Dublin for a week now before heading back home, laying here jetlagged to high hell unable to sleep :E

Plenty of panos to stitch and process though, I much prefer the panoramic I took from Tuolumne meadows,

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I really love the ones of Yosemite, I've always wanted to go :)

Yeah Yosemite was a bit "hit and miss" for me, it's SO BUSY, honestly - the main areas like tunnel view, glacier point and stuff are just so busy - it ruined the initial experience for me. That area of the park was mostly one big traffic jam, people in huge SUVs who can't drive, or park - endless coach fodder, really not a nice experience really.

However

If you venture out away from those areas, to places like Tuolumne meadow, or do any of the hikes around that area - it's actually fantastic, hardly anyone hikes so once you're away from the main areas - it becomes a much better experience, If you do ever go - I'd recommend doing research to look for places away from the main areas that are hikes, like parts of the john muir trail and stuff - far better.
 
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